The crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the accomplishment of His mission while on earth. In Matthew 1:18-21, the angel of the Lord declared unto Joseph that his betrothed, Mary shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. The primary assignment of Jesus Christ on earth was to deliver the people from their sins. The fact that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23) tells how dangerous it is to be under the yoke of sin. This then necessitated the need for a savior for God doesn’t want His people to experience eternal damnation.
Jesus was sent by God to die in our place so that we wouldn’t have to suffer spiritual death anymore. On His road to Golgotha and in Calvary, he endured excruciating pain and humiliation on account of Him bearing the past, present and future sins of all who believe in Him. Even the Father had to forsake Him because His eyes are too holy to behold the iniquity which His Beloved Son took upon himself. Thankfully, the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, encapsulated in the Easter season, ended in praise.
All torment and dehumanization which Jesus allowed satan to inflict on him, through Judas Iscariot, the chief priests and elders of the Jews, Harold and Pilate, brought about a sweet victory for the body of Christ, according to Ephesians 4:8-11. By His victory on the cross, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to all making them more than conqueror. As such, Good Friday shouldn’t be for mourning as is practiced in some denominations since it’s a day of victory and for the commemoration of the triumph of God’s agenda despite the devil’s erroneous assumption that he was thwarting same.
Good Friday should be a day for Christians to celebrate the victory of Christ over the devil. Indeed, satan’s greatest mistake was to orchestrate the crucifixion and death of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Satan thought that by masterminding the killing of Jesus, Christ’s ministry and destruction of the power of darkness will end. But the omniscience God rode on the back of the devil’s evil plot to bring salvation to the human race. In fact, the devil unwittingly made the job easier for God.
1 Corinthians 2:8 says, if the devil knows about His resurrection and revival that will follow he wouldn’t have crucified the lord of glory. Praise God that this mystery was hidden from the devil. By the death of this one man, Jesus Christ, there are now over 2.5bn Christians in the world most of whom are steadily frustrating the works of the devil in line with the authority which Christ’s finished work on the Cross bequeathed to them.
Beloved, it is not just the joy of Jesus Christ being alive that makes Christianity tick. The turning point for us as Christians is the introduction and release of the Holy Spirit. Paul, in his counsel to the Church in Romans 8:11, says, if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
The word “quicken” means to give life. The Holy Spirit, under whose dispensation we are now in, is a life-giving Spirit. Do you want life in any area of your life? Receive the Holy Ghost today. After the ascension of Jesus, His disciples could not do much until the Holy Ghost came in Act 2:1-4. The release of the Spirit was the beginning of life in Christian-dom. If you desire God’s kind of life (Zoe) in all you do, surrender your life to Jesus and receive the person of the Holy Ghost today. This is what Easter is all about. It is a sweet victory over all works of darkness so that Christians can enjoy Zoe. Happy Easter to you and your lovely family!
